BAGHDAD, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Unidentified gunmen shot dead six family members in a village in the Iraqi province of Salahudin, a provincial police source said Saturday.
The incident took place late on Friday night when the armed men broke into the house of Ali Mukhlif, administrative head of Samoum village in the northwest of the city of Samarra, some 120 km north of Iraq's capital Baghdad, Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua.
The attackers opened fire with their assault rifles and shot dead Mukhlif, four of his sons and his nephew before they fled to nearby orchards, al-Bazi said.
An Iraqi security force rushed to the scene and launched an investigation into the incident, he added.
The attack came as the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants have intensified their attacks on the security forces and civilians in the formerly IS-controlled Sunni provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens.
The security situation in Iraq has been improving since Iraqi security forces fully defeated the IS militants across the country late in 2017.
However, IS remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.
